Biology & habitat

/ the marsican brown bear / biology & habitat

The brown bear population of the central Apennines was described as a subspecies under the name Ursus arctos marsicanus by Giuseppe Altobello, a naturalist from Molise, in 1921.

Compared with other European brown bear populations, the Apennine subspecies is distinguished by several morphological and morphometric characters of the skull that are particularly noticeable in adult specimens. While in females and juveniles the skull is similar to that of other Euro-Asian populations, in males the head is short, broadened, and tall with a marked crest and short snout.

Despite their smaller size compared to the Alpine-Balkan brown bear, male Marsican brown bears usually weigh between 130 and 200 kg with a height of 180-190 cm in an upright position, while females are smaller and rarely exceed 120 kg. Generally, the sex ratio in the species is 1:1.

Bears’ eyesight is not very acute, but they compensate with an extremely developed sense of ‘smell. It is estimated to be 2,000 times stronger than the human one. The sense of smell is used not only to find food, but also to identify dangers and to communicate with conspecifics. In fact, bears as they pass leave “scent signals” that can be read by other bears. The bear verse is called
ruglio
. Although they can live more than 40 years in captivity, they hardly exceed 25 years in the wild. Every year it repeats, similar but never the same.

Time for love…

Between May and June the mating and mating season begins.
Courtships occur every year at the same locations, which often correspond to the sites where females without pups go to feed. Not everyone can participate in courtship; in fact, males fight among themselves and establish a hierarchy of access to females. Each female can give birth to 1 to 3 pups, rarely 4, and gives birth every 3 to 4 years, starting from the age of 4. Getting a litter to survive takes a lot of time and energy. Therefore, among the winning males, it is the females who choose which one they think will be the best father for the pups.
Very often males around 10 years old are chosen; in fact, at this age males reach their peak physical performance and have gained some experience. Pairs can spend up to several weeks together, in this way the males ensure that the conquered female does not mate with other males. After the very early stages of development, the fertilized egg stops in a state of dormancy or
embryonic diapause
.

Time to eat…

Despite being considered the largest carnivore in Italy, its diet consists of about 80 percent plant matter. The bear feeds mainly on beechnuts, acorns, ramno, berries, roots, wild fruits, insects, honey and meat. Bears need huge amounts of food to prepare for winter. During the period before hibernation, called the hyperphagia period, they can spend up to 14 hours a day feeding by increasing their weight by up to 40 percent.